Yes, we're back home now, and have been for almost two weeks...wow, doesn't seem like that long since we left beautiful New Zealand, but there it is!
I suppose I had better apologise for the huge gap between posts, really should have gotten onto this sooner, but we have been so busy catching up with everyone back home. It was actually getting very difficult to post towards the end without giving anything away to our unsuspecting friends and families.
So I will explain...
Pretty much Bohdi had decided he really wanted to be back home for his big 18th birthday, and plus we were really running out of money as we were unable to get any work while we were away due to the whole economy being a bit dead right now, and the fact that we just purely unluckily missed all the seasonal work. So about the time we were telling you all about our adventures in Wellington, we had been thinking about all this, and ended up dashing into the travel agents to secure our ride home. This was actually a lot more difficult than you would think, as the travel agents themselves are not really allowed to book anything for under-18-yr-olds without a signature from someone over 18 - apparently this can actually be anyone random off the street, but luckily my cousin Lara was able to come in and sign the silly piece of paper for us, so thanks a lot for that Lara!
So the next parts we could not tell you jump all the way down to Southbridge with Aunty Bren and Uncle Steve, who were amazing in helping us sell the van and taking us to the airport, so thanks to you guys, it all would have been far more difficult without your help!
Selling Bluey was a huge stress for us all, made worse by the looming deadline of us leaving the country. It got down to our very last day in NZ, the day before we were flying out, after having taken him to a car market, put him on trademe (nz's ebay), and put up signs in backpackers all over Christchurch, all with absolutely no success...until we met this awesome "Texan" (as in from Texas) couple, Matt and Cat, who were on what sounds like the most awesome extended honeymoon ever (think four months spent doing Nepal, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia etc etc - pretty much everywhere - before a a couple of momnths in NZ, on to Tahiti, and home for Xmas!) and who just happened to want to buy a van! Bluey did himself proud and stuck it out for the most awesome owners, who actually invited us to come stay in Texas! And who may just come along to Denmark one day in the future.
So thanks guys, for being the perfect people to take care of Bluey for us!
Actually even once we had all agreed and they were all set to buy Bluey, it really wasn't easy...
The first problem was that they had some sot of limit on their cards which stopped them from being able to draw out enough money, then when Matt tried to cash his travellers checks he was refused because he hadn't signed them before he walked in, so he had to walk back outside, sign them, and make them out to Cat so she could cash them. Still a few hundred short, the only other possibility was suggested to Matt by a lady at a convience store that didn't do cash out on Visa...she said to try the Casino...so off we went, squished into the three seater van, to the local casino, where Matt and Cat had to go in, buy like $500 worth of chips with their credit card, wander around the tables, put one chip into a pokey machine, and then walk back out and exchange them for cash. Pretty ridiculous that thats what it came down to! Anyway, now we had the money(thankyou nameless convenience store lady!!), but our problems weren't over...we still had to do the change of ownership papers, which in Nz can only be done at the post office, and seeing as though it was a saturday afternoon...nothing was open!! Luckily, when we stopped by the cop-shop to ask if they did the exchange, we were helped by a really nice receptionist who looked it all up on the net, and even rang a post office she thought was open, and it was. So off we went again to the mall whree this post office was, and miracle of miracles...it was still open, and we were able to switch it all over!!! Thank God.
So that was the story of selling Bluey.
The only thing left to tell is saying goodbye to the family (we were sad to leave, as it was really great staying there in Southbridge, and was the best way to finish the holiday, not to mention, it was awesome to catch up with all the cousins!), and the plane ride home.
The plane ride, well, rides actually, were not particularly eventful (On second thoughts, I don't suppose you really want a plane ride to be overly eventful, so that was probably a good thing), but it was an incredibly long journey. It began with a 1hour and 20min flight from Christchurch to Auckland, followed by a 2.5hr stopover there, then we got on our 3hr flight to Sydney, after which we hung out back in Australia for like another 2.5hrs, before getting on our final, 5hr, flight back to Perth, where my Mum (who was the only family member to be told - although only a week before we came back - as she just happened to coming up to Perth that same weekend...weird huh)was eagerly awaiting us at the airport. So after a night at Mum's friend Jedda's house (thanks for having us Jedda!), we headed off back to good old Denmark to surprise everyone!
Well thats about it really...wow it will be weird not thinking about this blog anymore...
But to everyone who has been reading about our travels...Thanks. We have really loved having you all along for the ride!
Thanks for having us New Zealand!!
Bohdi and Tahns
P.S. Boh had an awesome 18th in case anyone was wondering...
